About Us

Contact Information

Telephone: (760) 721-3393
Postal address: P.O. Box 2701, Carlsbad, CA 92018

Who We Are--The New Owners

Proto Power West/ Aline has been in the model railroad business for 27 years First known for re-powering Athearn locomotives and re-powering kits. They were the first company to introduce Intermodal Equipment to the Model Railroad Hobby in 1984. First to introduce Hobby Tote storage and carrying system to the hobby, the Company also has an extensive line of detail parts for HO scale rail and vehicle equipment. Highly detailed highway trailers are another product line the company manufactures. Proto Power West/Aline is a very diverse and innovative manufacturing company with many years of experience in the hobby.

A History of New Rail Models (2003-2007)

After 4 successful years, the owners of New Rail Models sold the injection-molded line of products to A-Line/Proto Power West in December 2007. Both John and Mark, the previous owners, have full-time jobs and New Rail Models was taking more and more of their free time. With the sale, they have time again to model.

John continues to work with the new owners on product development, which, as he says, "is a lot more fun than owning the company--I really enjoy designing products."

New Rail Models was founded in 2003 by expert model builders Dean Daughenbaugh and John Socha-Leialoha. Located in the Pacific Northwest, the company created products for all scales, including laser building kits, detail parts and CAD-designed injection molded products.

John Socha-Leialoha started modeling in 2000 and really took to the hobby, choosing N scale because of it's scenic and operations potential. He has published a number of articles in N Scale Railroading Magazine and Model Railroader, and has also won best of show several times for his models (and the Railroad Model Craftsman Trophy at the 2004 NMRA convention).

John handled the design and engineering work, the graphic design for the packaging, writing the construction manuals, and writing the content for this web site. He co-founded New Rail Models to pay for toys like a laser and CNC milling machine.

John is a software developer by trade and has written a number of commercial programs, and books and articles on software.

Now that New Rail Models is under new owners, John plans to build an HOn3 layout featuring the Rio Grande Southern.

John shown working on Mark Bridgwater's Feather River Route layout. At the right is the levee over the UP line in Sacramento, which you can see in the January 2004 issue of Model Railroader magazine.